Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Just realised theres no thread for NASA's latest mission to Mars.....


Nasa's next step in their exploration of Mars is the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

Originally From nasa.gov
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's mission is to see if long-standing bodies of water once existed on the planet. While missions like the Mars Exploration Rovers have shown that water once flowed across the planet's surface, scientists are yet to determine if it was around long enough to provide a habitat for life.

The NASA team are also planning to use the MRO to look for possible landing sites for future manned missions to the red planet.

Link To ATSNN Article!

Update:

NASA have called off the launch of the MRO for a further day!

Originally From BBC News
The US space agency Nasa has delayed the launch of its new Mars probe for the second day running.
The $500m Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) was due to launch on Thursday, but controllers called a halt just a few minutes before blast-off.

During loading of the hydrogen fuel tank, sensors showed a "dry" reading when they should have been reading "wet". A similar problem forced Nasa to scrub the launch of the space shuttle Discovery from Cape Canaveral on 13 July.

Strange how it was a similar problem to Discovery!



At last a mission to Mars that seems to have a point!

I dont doubt for one moment that the rovers havent been amazing, but they just seem to roam around looking at rocks!
At least the MRO will be looking for possible landing sites for future manned missions!


Mic

Thread started

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[edit on 11-8-2005 by SOCIAL_TAKEOVER]

As stated above. Thread closed.